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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Video: Trump’s Tax Plan


The latest fact-checking video by CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org looks at President Donald Trump’s statement that he will “end up paying more than I pay right now” under his tax-cut proposal.

There is no way to know with any precision how Trump’s plan would affect his federal taxes. Trump has not released his tax returns, and his one-page tax plan lacks the details needed to analyze its impact.

However, Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, which analyzes the impact of tax policy changes, told us that Trump’s plan “would save high-income people in general a lot of money.”

That’s because it calls for abolishing the alternative minimum tax, which is designed to ensure that the most wealthy taxpayers pay a minimum tax, and the estate tax, which currently applies only to estates valued at more than $5.49 million. It also would collapse the personal income tax rates from seven to three, lowering the top tax bracket from 39.6 percent to 35 percent, and it would reduce the pass-through rate for business owners who are taxed through their personal returns to 15 percent.

It also calls for: doubling the standard deduction; eliminating deductions except for mortgage interest and charitable giving; and reducing the corporate tax rate.

“The combination of lower rates, no AMT, no estate tax, and a 15% tax rate on corporate and pass-through income would disproportionately benefit the rich,” Williams said. “It’s hard to believe that getting rid of most tax loopholes would reverse the effects of those provisions.”

Tapper’s video — which is based on our article “Trump’s 100-Day Boasts” — can be found on CNN’s website. All the videos in our series can be found on our website.